Water

The Oregon Water Resources Commission will consider a number of policy reforms at a two-day meeting this week in Harney County, a setting that’s become emblematic of state mismanagement of groundwater.

Warm Springs Tribal Chairperson traveled across the country to testify about water crisis.

At a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, senators pointed to Eastern Oregon, where more than 4,000 wells are at risk from decades of nitrate pollution, and to Central Oregon, where dozens of people blame a gravel mine for sudden plumbing disasters and health concerns.

The Bureau of Reclamation said improved hydrology, future water conservation and agreements between stakeholders means water allocations for the Klamath Project will remain the same through September.

State officials aim to contact all domestic well users in the Lower Umatilla River Basin by the end of September.

As brutal heat stretches across much of the United States, some farmers may be watching their crops grow parched.

Oregon and Washington are among U.S. states turning down all or most of their initial share of federal money to find and replace lead pipes.

On Tuesday, the Oregon Water Resources Department decided the Redmond-area resort’s planned water use “will impair or adversely affect the public welfare, safety, and health,” and is not “within the capacity of the resource.”

Oregon lawmakers recently approved legislation allowing the state’s water resources department to pursue immediate court relief over water use violations that cause irreparable harm.

Sandy's wastewater treatment facility regularly released more pollutants than environmental permits allowed over the past six years.